


Ghost of Me

by carinascott



Category: Leverage
Genre: Episode Related, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:11:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carinascott/pseuds/carinascott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something is bothering Eliot and Alec is determined to find out what it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost of Me

**Author's Note:**

> Title borrowed from Daughtry's "Ghost of Me". Includes references to Leverage episode 4x07: The Grave Danger Job.

Ghost of Me

Alec sighed as he walked down the hall towards the gym. Rubbing at sleep-crusted eyes, he pushed the door open, greeted with the familiar thumping sound that had been making an appearance more and more over the last few weeks.

Eliot didn't look up at his entrance, but Alec knew he'd heard him enter the room. Taking a seat on the workbench pushed against the far left wall, Alec watched Eliot beat on the punching bag repeatedly; beads of sweat rolling down the hitter's cheek.

He let Eliot continue pounding the bag unimpeded for another ten minutes before he sighed once more, stood and went over to steady the bag.

"Eliot, come back to bed. It's after 3am and we need to be at Nate's by nine. You need to sleep."

"I'm not tired," Eliot replied, continuing to punch on the bag, though the force behind his punches had lessened greatly since Alec was standing on the other side.

"Bullshit. You haven't been sleeping well for the last few weeks, and you've hardly gotten more than two or three hours a night these last few days. Come. To. Bed."

Eliot ignored the request, as Alec had anticipated, and instead turned away from the bag and walked a short distance before beginning to do a cool down stretch.

Alec tamped down on his anger, knowing that something was eating at his lover. It hurt that Eliot hadn't decided to share whatever was bothering him, but Alec tried not to take it personal. Eliot wasn't used to sharing his emotions with anyone, having worked solo for so long, so Alec knew it wasn't exactly easy for him to open up.

Leaving the gym for the moment, knowing there was no use pushing his lover right now, Alec headed to the kitchen. Opening the door to the fridge, Alec grabbed two bottles of water, and then returned to the gym.

When he returned he could tell that Eliot was in the last phase of his cool down stretches, so he returned to his previous spot on the bench and sat down. Opening one bottle of water, he took a long drink, mind drifting to Eliot's worsening insomnia.

Since they'd started sleeping together regularly more than a year ago, Alec had grown accustomed to Eliot's occasional bouts of insomnia. They'd come, stick around for three or four days and then disappear for months. Alec was never sure what triggered them, and Eliot never shared, but he knew that after a few days Eliot would sleep like the dead for a day and then be back to his usual self. Regardless of what he'd told the team, Eliot slept more than 90 minutes a night, and when he didn’t Alec knew something was wrong.

So, the fact that this latest bout with insomnia had been going on for almost three weeks screamed 'wrong' to him. Usually Alec would let it go, let Eliot handle whatever was eating at him on his own; Eliot preferred it that way.

But not this time. He loved Eliot, no matter that they didn't verbally express it too often; he wasn't gonna sit by and let him self destruct without trying his damndest to prevent it.

Once he deemed Eliot finished with his workout routine, Alec stood up and walked over to the older man, handing him the cool bottle of water. Eliot took it with a small smile of thanks, though the smile didn't reach his eyes, and opened the bottle. Alec let him finish the bottle of water without a word, taking the empty away from him and discarding it in the small trash bin along the right wall. Turning back to his lover, Alec tried to determine the best approach.

Seeing Eliot's shoulders start to tense more and more as the silence between them grew, though the hitter tried to busy himself with tidying up the already obsessively neat gym, Alec decided that direct was the best way to go.

"Something's bugging you." Alec held up his hand to forestall Eliot's protestations, knowing that they'd be lies, no matter how well intended. "Yes, El, there is. Something is bothering you and you don't wanna talk about it. And normally that would be perfectly fine. I’d just chalk it up to something bothering you about a case and then a few days will go by and you're back to normal. But this time is different."

"How so?" Eliot asked, jaw set in a hard line indicating anger, though his eyes begged for Alec to drop it.

"I don't know, Eliot. I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, and you refuse to talk about it. I get that you're not used to opening up about stuff. Hell, neither am I. Most of the 'people' I talk to are losing themselves in an alternate reality, so it's not like I have many people to open up to. I get it, Eliot, I really do. It's not easy to open up to people, even when you care about them. Maybe especially when you care. But, I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

"I don't need your help, Hardison." Eliot grit out, moving to push past him on his way out of the room.

But Alec stopped him with a firm grip on his arm. He knew Eliot could incapacitate him in less than ten seconds, possibly even kill him, but he was trusting in their love for one another to keep him safe. Eliot stilled, though the tension in his framed ratcheted up about ten notches.

"Let me go."

Alec could've easily responded with 'no', leading to a heated argument that would've ended with harsh words and even harsher slams of doors. _‘Been there, done that.’_ Instead, keeping his hand on Eliot's arm he walked around his lover until he was standing right in front of him, looking him dead in the eyes.

"Talk to me, Eliot. Please, just-just tell me what is wrong. Don't shut me out."

Maybe it was being faced with Alec's unflinching love, his pleading to be let in, or maybe it was simply the 'please'; whatever it was, Eliot caved. Wrapping his fingers around Alec's wrists, Eliot closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them and looking into Alec's eyes, "Okay."

Alec's smile was brilliant, and his relief was overwhelming. Swallowing against the lump in his throat, Alec leaned in to kiss Eliot softly on the lips, moaning softly when Eliot immediately deepened it.

That had been something else that had been lacking over the last few weeks. They'd had sex, sure. But that had been it, it had been like they were scratching an itch and while Alec's body had been satisfied, his soul still yearned for more. He wanted the intimacy they'd had before, the kind that would leave him breathless and aching after two hours of making out on the sofa, with no desire to hurry the pace, even if that meant he'd be aching for even longer.

Pulling back, panting slightly, Alec put voice to his thoughts, "I've missed this."

Eliot smiled back at him, "Yeah, me too." Stepping back, Eliot laced their fingers together and headed towards the door, pulling Alec behind him. "Come on, this is a conversation I'd rather have in our bed."

Alec turned off the light as they left the room and let Eliot pull him down the hall towards their bedroom.

He crawled into bed and watched as Eliot stripped down to his boxers. When his lover moved to get in the bed with him, Alec stopped him. "Uh, uh. Fresh sheets, babe. You are not stinking up my sheets with all that sweat. Go take a shower."

Eliot smiled; that sneaky one that always put Alec on edge and made his dick hard, before pouncing on his lover. Sliding his sweaty body all over Alec, Eliot ground against his young lover slowly, grinning outright when Alec moaned and thrust up against him. Licking his way into Alec's mouth Eliot swallowed down Alec's next moan, keeping his pace slow and steady, in no rush no matter how much Alec whimpered. Alec relished the feel of Eliot’s sweaty body covering him, his weight a solid comfort he’d missed over the last few weeks. Rocking up into Eliot, he did his best not to hurry their pace, needing this slow, gentle reconnection more than he’d realized. 

Threading his fingers through Eliot’s hair, Alec moved Eliot’s head to the perfect position to delve his tongue into the hot cavern that was Eliot’s mouth. Moaning as Eliot immediately took control of the kiss, possessing his mouth as surely as he possessed his heart, Alec felt his climax building all too soon. Wanting it to last longer, but unable to fight his body’s response, Alec let his arousal consume him. Releasing Eliot’s hair, he wrapped his arms and legs around Eliot’s sweat-slicked body, thrusting more frantically against his lover, striving for the sweet completion that Eliot always gave him.

Slack-jawed and out of it as his orgasm neared, Alec didn’t see the wicked gleam in his lover’s eyes before Eliot leaned down and bit hard at the juncture where shoulder meets neck, sending his lover crashing over the edge with a keening cry of completion. Eliot followed soon after, collapsing onto his lover as he tried to catch his breath.

After he caught his breath, Alec opened his eyes and frowned up at his lover. "You did that on purpose."

Eliot chuckled, before moving to stand up, "Whatever you say darlin’. Point is, we’re both dirty now. You gonna help me clean up?

Rolling his eyes, Alec climbed off the bed and followed Eliot's naked ass towards the bathroom, enjoying the enticing view along the way.

\--

Crawling back into bed, now fresh from their shower, Alec glanced at the clock and frowned. _‘4:14AM Great.’_ Grabbing his cell off the night stand, he sent a quick text to Nate letting him know that he and Eliot wouldn't be in until around noon. Nate was most likely asleep, but he'd see it when he woke up in the morning.

Eliot slid into the bed behind him, having stepped out quickly to recheck that the house was locked up. Alec had rolled his eyes when Eliot had told him what he was doing, but didn't bother teasing his lover more than that, knowing it was just something he had to do to be able to relax for the night.

Sighing happily when Eliot wrapped his arms around him, Alec relaxed back against his lover's chest.

"Who were you calling'?"

"Oh, no one. Just sent Nate a text to let him know that we'd be late tomorrow so he wouldn't be wondering where we are."

"You sure that's a good idea? Aren't we meeting with a client?"

"No, Nate met with the client last night. He's just briefing us on the case and then we'll go from there."

"We can still make it on time. We've got enough time to get at least 4 hours in before our meeting."

"Not if we plan to make it at nine. And it takes you half an hour to get your hair ready as it is. Plus you need as much sleep as you can get."

"Yeah, about that...." 

Eliot trailed off and Alec could easily sense his unease, "Yeah? Come on El, you know you can tell me anything."

"I know that darlin; it's just not easy talkin' about it. Don't even like thinking about it."

Turning in his lover's arms, Alec looked up at Eliot, face highlighted by the light shining through a slit in the curtains from the streetlight outside their bedroom window. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Eliot sighed, closing his eyes, before opening them again and speaking, "Every time I close my eyes, I see you in that damn coffin. But only thing is, y-you're not al-alive." Eliot's voice cut out then and Alec could see him swallow hard against the emotions he was obviously feeling.

Alec suppressed the eerie shiver memories of his time buried often caused, knowing that Eliot need his strength, not his fear, right now. Kissing Eliot's throat, Alec whispered "I'm, right here babe. And I ain't goin' anywhere."

Eliot squeezed him tighter, "You can't know that, Alec."

Sighing, Alec nodded, snuggling further into Eliot’s embrace. "You're right, I can't. But you can't let that mess up what we have right here and now. Now, today, in this moment I am right here with you. And I will do everything in my power to stay here." Alec took Eliot's hand and put it on his heart, "My heart is beating strong, El. And until God says otherwise, it will continue to do so. Now, I can't stop you from worrying about me. I worry about you too. But you can't continue on with this not sleeping routine. It's not healthy. And, just so you know, I’d like to keep you around for as long as I can. So I need you as healthy as possible. Got it?"

Eliot smiled, and leaned in for a slow sweet kiss, "Yeah, I got it."

When Alec felt Eliot's callused thumb rubbing across the sensitive spot at the jut of his hip, he couldn't suppress the full body shiver it caused. He so wanted to take Eliot up on his offer, to make love to him when they weren’t pressed for time, giving them a chance to reconnect on a deeper level than their little tryst a while ago had given them, but he knew they could. Not tonight anyway. Eliot needed his rest and they were already going to be late to the team meeting as it was.

Kissing Eliot once again, Alec pulled back, "Tomorrow, babe. We'll pick this up tomorrow. But for now, let's try to get some sleep."

Eliot nodded, moving to rearrange the blankets that covered them. Settling against Alec, now with his head on Alec's chest, right over his heart, Eliot settled in to sleep.

Alec smiled when, moments later, he heard the gentle snores that told him his lover was fast asleep. He knew that one talk wasn't enough to take away Eliot's fears, wasn't sure if there was enough talking in the world, but for now everything was as it should be, so he'd count this as a win.

Closing his own eyes after a final glance at his lover, Alec drifted into a dreamless sleep.

END


End file.
